My name is Julia Johnson.  For the past twelve years my stepdad, Timothy Hubal Jr., has been sitting in prison for false allegations involving myself as the alleged victim.  I am posting this letter hoping someone will read my story and help me in any way possible to free my dad.  He doesn’t deserve to be in prison, and it is time he finally comes home. Please note that some names of those involved have been initialed for privacy. 

  When I was little, living with Tim and my mom LW was not the best memory of my childhood.  My dad was never home, he was working nonstop at his multiple jobs to support me, my brother GS, and my half-brother CS. LW stayed home with us kids while my dad worked.  Those times alone with her were filled with terror and cruelty.  If she wasn’t being verbally or physically abusive, she was busy with the strange men that would come over to the house.  The visits from these men were the most horrific.  There were many times when a few men would come into my room and rape me or physically abuse me.  Every time this happened, LW always knew what was going on and did nothing nor cared to prevent this.  One other memory while living there really stands out in my mind; LW coached GS and I about a story of Tim abusing all of us kids and how he had raped me.  She went over this with us several times to make sure we had all the details memorized correctly.  I never understood why or what it meant at the time, my dad would never hurt any of us, I just knew that it was important to remember the story.  

  In February 2011, allegations of abuse were made towards my dad of physically abusing my brother GS.  During the investigation, GS and I were taken away to live with a foster family while CS was taken away to live with my stepdad’s mom MM.  GS and I were only with the foster family for a few months until our biological dad’s parents, SJ and GJ, obtained custody of us both and so we went to go live with them.  

  Early in moving in with SJ and GJ, my grandparents decided to hire a therapist, Connie Crego-Stahl, for me.  During several of my sessions with her I had brought up the story my mom told me about my stepdad.  I later found out that the story was discussed with my grandparents after my sessions and the therapist reported this story to the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC). 

  When June 2011 came around, I was told that I had to talk to a woman named Emily Combes, an investigator who worked for the CAC.  She asked me questions about the story and about my stepdad.  Looking back on this now after reading the transcript from this interview, I noticed some key words that seemed weird, and I know that I never used them when I was little.  When Emily asked me about who did all of these sexual things to me, I responded with “Tim”.  After reading this, I made a connection back to LW’s coaching and using the name “Tim”.  

  Normally when I was little, I always called my stepdad “daddy” or “dad”, never by his first name.  There was also a word that stood out to me that was used during the interview in reference to a male body part.  I never learned this word and never heard it used by anyone and was taught to use a completely different word altogether. 

  A few weeks passed after the interview and my dad was arrested because of the allegations made in the story.  My dad explains to me later in early 2023 that his court-appointed attorney, Mr. O. Ross Long, told my dad that he had no interest in defending him only to represent him.  While Mr. Long represented my dad, he never once took the time to reach out and talk to me about the allegations. Advice was given to my dad urging him to take an Alford Plea to help us kids avoid being put through foster care.  It would also save him from being sentenced to life in prison and he could easily file an appeal and be released in a short amount of time. My dad wanted nothing more than to protect me and my brothers and agreed to take the Alford Plea.  He was then convicted of rape in Delaware County, Ohio (11 CRI 10 0536); he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison with the chance of parole in the year 2036.  

  I never knew during those moments talking to Connie or Emily what saying this story would do to my dad.  At least, I never understood at that time.  At one point while living with my grandparents, I eventually learned what happened to my dad from overhearing a conversation between my grandma and GS.  I tried to ask my grandparents about the subject, but I was turned away or the topic was quickly changed.  As the years went on living with my grandparents, there were times when I wanted to reach out to someone about the truth about my dad, but I was kept on a tight leash and had no idea who to reach to.  

   In my early teens, I was struggling with my mental health.  My grandparents, not having the desire or patience to handle a teen in need of help, sent me to a mental health facility in Youngstown Ohio.  After a year there I was released and moved in with my second foster family until I was 18.  Before leaving, I reached out to my county worker asking for contact information so I could talk to my brother CS. I was given MM’s contact information and kept in touch with them.  

   January of 2022 comes around and I discover my grandpa, Timothy Hubal Sr., on Facebook and sent him a second friend request. Back when I was 17 and in foster care with my second family, I had sent him a friend request on an older profile, I never received a response.  With my new account, I received a message request from him providing contact information for my dad’s attorney Adam Stone located in Bucyrus, Ohio. With the help of Adam’s office, I received information about my dad in order to set up an account on JPay, an online inmate email system.  All I had to do was figure out payment for more credits called “stamps” in order to continue to send him more emails and stay in contact. During the time of receiving a message from Tim Sr., I also unexpectedly receive a message on Facebook from a woman named JB, my dad’s girlfriend.  Her message, similar to my grandpa’s, contained Adam Stone’s contact information. Later on, I received a JPay message from my dad explaining to me about JB and that I can talk to her and how she would be willing to help me with paying for more stamps.  About a month has gone by, talking here and there with JB through Facebook, asking her questions about the case and staying in contact in case I needed money for more stamps. 

  One day in early August, the friend I was staying with in Columbus, Ohio, decided to kick me out of her apartment.  She asked me to grab her a drink from the gas station nearby.  This was an excuse to get me to leave so she could grab my things and place them on her doorstep.  I received a text message from her telling me she had to kick me out or she would’ve faced eviction. I was now stranded in Columbus with nowhere to go with no one to go to for help.  I messaged JB apologizing for not chatting for a while and explained my situation to let my dad know what happened and how I needed to find a place to stay.  JB then asked if I felt comfortable if she drove here to pick me up because she didn’t want to see me stranded.  I agreed and later that evening, I was now staying with her in her home located in Northeastern Ohio. I remember telling her on the car ride to her house that now that I was with my dad’s girlfriend, I felt I could now help my dad more than ever come home.  

  Throughout August 2022 up until now, I have tried going in different directions to help prove my dad’s innocence. My first direction was with Adam Stone. On September 22nd, I agreed to head over to the office located in Bucyrus to do a deposition.  With the deposition completed and notarized, Adam gave me hope with plans of utilizing it to use with the paperwork that would be filed to the courts.  Weeks passed with no movement; in October, my dad decided to terminate Adam Stone’s services due to lack of ability to his job for over the past 5 years.  Adam had claimed he tried to find me to contact me way before all of this; he never even hired a private investigator to find me; the office even told my dad he had to find me himself.  No movement forward after the deposition was the final straw.   

  With the loss of an attorney and no money to look for another, I had to think of some other direction to try.  I decided to reach out to the Delaware County Prosecutor’s Office; the county where my dad’s conviction took place.  After calling and leaving a voicemail, I received a phone call from an assisting prosecutor to follow up on the voicemail and allowed me to briefly explain the situation.  It was decided for me to go to their office for a meeting with investigator Bob Peterson.  The meeting was set up for January 19th, 2023; I was questioned and discussed the actual innocence of my dad.  A few months passed by until in April, JB received an email from the Director of the Wrongful Conviction Project, Joanna Sanchez.  Her email stated that all the information from the prosecutor’s office was forwarded to the project and any further communication would only be directed to my dad by mail.  

  A few weeks went by and on May 18th my dad received a letter from the project.  I was very hopeful that the letter would be good news from the project agreeing to help.  This was not the case.  The letter simply stated that even with the information from the prosecutor’s office, they were not willing to help.  With no specific reason stated for why they wouldn’t help, I found their denial to be a huge insult to me.  I was the one who reached out and it seemed like no one believed or wanted to believe the truth.  The fact that the project wouldn’t even communicate with me while reviewing the case had to be the biggest insult of them all.  Recently I sent an email to the head prosecutor at Delaware County.  I wanted to see if she could explain why the information had to be sent to the project and why they couldn’t just reopen the case themselves? A few days later, rather than get a reply from the lead prosecutor, I received an email from Trish Wright, the director of Victim Services.  Trish explained that the email was forwarded to her, and that the office will not reopen the case and the “matter has been closed due to insufficient evidence”. There isn’t sufficient evidence because there isn’t any evidence at all; my dad did nothing wrong.  All that was used in court was the interview with Emily Combes. I’m not understanding what more I would need to free my dad.  

  Once again, I’m asking for help; any help would be appreciated.  My dad is innocent and should have never taken that Alford Plea.  For years I’ve been waiting to finally speak out and bring my dad home.  I’m tired of my dad being denied without people giving him a chance and not taking the time to look into anything about the case. All of these roadblocks have made the journey difficult, but I stand by my story and by my dad’s innocence.  He has friends and family that support him and believe in his innocence.  I made a promise to my dad that I would do whatever I could to bring him home and that he would never be alone in this. I have no intention of breaking this promise.  I wanted to thank anyone taking the time to read my story and understand how desperate I am for your help. 

Thank you,

Julia Johnson